Lackawanna State Park has miles of hiking and mountain biking trails. While there aren’t mountainous vistas or towering waterfalls, I enjoy hiking here due to the diversity of habitats and scenery. The many trails create numerous loop options. This loop circles the northern half of the lake and is about 5.5 miles long. It has streams, meadows, views of the lake, and lots of hemlocks. Most trails have signs and many trail junctures are numbered.
Park at Lot 1, cross PA 407 and begin on the Orchard Trail as it meanders through pines, small meadows and through the woods with some views of the lake. Reach PA 438 and turn right onto the road, then left off the road onto Bull Hill Trail, a highlight of the hike. Bull Hill explores hemlock forests along Whites Creek and is a very scenic area. Reach a field and walk along the perimeter. Turn back into the woods, to the left, following the Bull Hill Trail. Enter a beautiful hemlock forest and climb gradually along the side of a hill. Snow covered the forest floor and draped the trees. Reach the top with large rock walls and hardwoods. Enter the Ziegler Preserve, owned by the Countryside Conservancy. We hiked the scenic trails in the preserve, and were going to hike into Gardner Spencer Preserve, but we did not have the time. So we made a loop in the Ziegler Preserve and descended to the parking area, crossing PA 438.
We followed a trail across the road down to the South Branch Tunkhannock Creek and crossed the bridge at Cole Road. We followed the Basset Path and then the Lakeshore Trail through groves of hemlocks and views of the lake. There were rock ledges off to our left. The next scenic area was the Kennedy Creek Inlet, a glen with hemlocks and a footbridge. We continued on the Ranger Trail to PA 407, turned right to cross the bridge and returned to Lot 1.
Parking is at 41.564287, -75.708262.
Support the Countryside Conservancy and visit their many preserves.
A map of the trails at the state park and surrounding preserves. Lots of hiking to do!
Photos:
Hike Pennsylvania with Jeff Mitchell 